Thursday, March 26, 2009

Now that SXSW is over and my non-Texan friends who attended the conference are back on the East Coast, all I hear from them is, “Where can I get a breakfast taco?” or “Who has the best queso?”

Austin food is addictive, isn’t it?

One of the things I love the most about Texas is its size. Because it spans across several geographical, topographical and climatic zones, naturally there are going to be variations in what people eat in each area. While I would say that the trinity of Texan food—Southern dishes, barbecue and Tex-Mex—is the same throughout the state, how each region within the state interprets these cuisines differs.

Take Austin and Tex-Mex. After spending years in the Dallas area and Houston, I was already aware that differences could exist between the two Texan cities’ cuisines, so I wasn’t that surprised when I arrived in Austin to see that it, too, did things just a bit differently than other places in the state.

The first thing I noticed was migas. I’ve written about migas before—Austin’s signature breakfast dish of scrambled eggs with cheese, chips and peppers. Every place in Austin serves migas, yet when you leave Austin you rarely see them, if at all.

Black beans are another Austin Tex-Mex distinction. It was in Austin that I first saw black beans served alongside your tacos or your enchiladas, instead of the more typical refried pinto beans. This isn’t to say that you can’t find refried pinto beans in Austin, because there are many fine, fine examples of this noble dish. But, I found that Austin’s Tex-Mex could be a little quirky and so black beans would be on offer more often than I’d see them in Houston or Dallas.
I wasn’t a stranger to black beans. My mom fed me all sorts of beans when I was growing up in Houston and black beans graced our table probably once a week. But there was something about black beans that made me feel they were more upscale. Perhaps it was the color of the bean (black is always stylish!) or perhaps it was its more diminutive size, but I adored black beans just as much as my beloved pintos.

I know I’ve written a lot about beans lately—and if you’re not a bean eater, I apologize. I reckon you could say it’s the grim economy that has me returning to beans so frequently—they are, after all, such a healthy, inexpensive protein. But as beans have been a staple of my diet my whole life, I also just really enjoy cooking and eating them. And since they’re what I had for dinner last night, I thought I’d share them with you.

This is my basic black bean recipe. It takes little effort and has a rich smoky flavor that comes from chipotles instead of the usual ham hocks or bacon. And, of course, if you’re bored by black beans at least now I have something to point to when I write in the future about really fun things, such as black-bean salsa, corn and black-bean salad or that Austin late-night staple, Mag mud.

Soak the beans covered in water—either overnight or the quick soak method in which you place the beans in a pot, cover with water, bring to a boil, cover and remove from heat and let sit for one hour.

Drain the soaked beans.

In the pot you’re going to cook the beans, sauté the onions and carrots in your preferred fat for 10 minutes and then add the garlic for one minute. Add the beans, chipotles, epazote and half the cilantro.

Cover beans with water and chicken broth, bring to a boil, and then reduce heat to low (liquid may still be moving and all the ingredients may still be jumping around the pot, just not as vigorously as when the heat is high. That's fine.). Stir occasionally.

After 1 1/2 hours, add the cumin, tomato paste, lime juice, salt and remaining cilantro and cook for 30 more minutes or until beans are tender. At this point, smash a few against the side of the pot with a spoon to thicken the broth a bit, stir the pot and serve.

Feeds six or four hungry people.

Notes: If you don’t want to serve the beans with the carrots, onions and garlic—leave them whole and then remove when beans are done. And if your store doesn't stock either dried or fresh epazote, you can order it from Penzey's or you can just omit it from the recipe. Though it is supposed to help with the beans' tendency to cause intestinal issues, so omit at your own risk!

I love black beans too (and your recipe looks awesome!). BTW, the overnight soaking method works a lot better than the quick soak for digestibility, especially when you add a tablespoon or two of something acidic like lemon juice or apple cider vinegar. Also, for those of us with no access to epazote (like here in the Florida panhandle), an inch-long piece of kombu really helps to eliminate most of those gas issues.

Thanks for your pictures, recipes, and reminiscences. My mama was a Texan and we grew up eating Texas food, and your recipes and stories take me back to my childhood.

ahhh Austin! Hubby and I got back from our yearly SXSW/anniversary trek to the great city of Austin on Monday night and I am lamenting that we weren't able to fit in all of our favorite places to eat. A colleague is heading there for a conference next week and I looked over our "Austin food guide" before sending it to him - it's 4 pages long!!

We are seriously considering buying property there while the market is down... gotta plan for that retirement ;)

I loved your post about Austin! I grew up mainly in San Antonio (and Austin, Fort Worth, and Houston), and went to UT for college, so I'm all too familiar with the wonderful, wonderful food of Austin! I was wondering, have you ever had the Tex-Mex in San Antonio? I think it is by far the best in the entire state, though I may be more than a little biased! And the recipe looks fabulous, I can't wait to try it tonight!

I've moved to California and I just want to say that reading your posts has helped with my serious case of homesickness (as well as my despair at not finding a decent rendition of Tex-Mex here). Keep them coming!!

I just got back from Austin last week. I try to make it there once a year, but this time it had been almost 2 years! Eeeek. I miss miss miss the food in that town with every meal I eat. I'm almost sorry I ever moved away (what was I thinking).

I love beans so keep 'em coming! I will make them one of these days! :) You're right I had migas everywhere when I was in Austin - and I wish there was a place that served them close by in our hood. :)

There's no reason to apologize to non-bean eaters. Perhaps they are Pythagoreans, who felt the gas from legumes was the "spirit" of the "bean". Or something else New Age-y..

But black beans are great.. as are salvadorean red beans (frijoles de seda/ silk beans). I'd think the reason that black beans are so prevalent in DC is because the Salvadorean & Guate population is so large..

I've been seeing frijoles bayos (pale tan) and frijoles mayocobas from Valle Verde in the Richmond Food Lions, BTW. Interesting beans, these. There's a law suit over the genetic material in mayocobas, BTW.

Gosh i am homesick..for the food and entertainment! Born in Austin over a UT semester *l* and lived in San Antonio and the Hill contry for years. Am a Tex-Mex foodie (sob.. I live in Chicagoland now). Since I grew up in San Antonio my opinion is slanted. It is very Dif from Austin's we call Austin the Haute Tex-Mex. My first taste of it was when Guerra's opened the chilie on the tables was even so dif. I had my first stuffed Jalepeno at another resturantin Austin. San Antonio Tex-mex is the roots of Tex-mex. As a child I remember on Sundays we could buy the whole cows head for Barbacoa. Miga's is one dish for Breakfast but the best is the chorizo Con Huevo plate. Here in chicagoland they serve it with rice and beans! how can I explain to them that you must have small papita's on the side not rice with the beans. Black beans are too woodsy for me except for soup. Refrito's and boracho pinto beans forever I say. I think we need to have the Texas flag adopt an image of the Pinto! I remember working downtown San Antonio for a bit..after getting out of the car, in the am you were bowled over with the smell of Mexican Food cooking in the resturants for the day. Ahhh..

Can't wait to try Mag Mud, sounds delectable, plus I've never had it! Never got to spend enough time in Austin, I guess. News flash: I'm seeing Migas alot more, in Seabrook, TX at the Classic Cafe were the best I've tried so far (besides mine:)!

I’m making refried beans and cheese enchiladas tomorrow and came to your blog to see where I was going wrong with my refried beans. Bacon grease! I didn't know that! I lived my first 32 years in SA and this Texan (now living in NC) misses her Mexican food and chicken fried steak the most! I made your chicken fried steak recipe, btw, and it was soooo good! Tip: put plastic wrap over the steak when pounding it out unless you really just want the whole experience! I really appreciate this blog. The food pictures, recipes and Texas stories really take me back. Thank you!

As a seriously homesick Austinite, you hit the nail on the head. Austin's tex-mex is like no other. My husband and I affectionately refer to it as aus-mex. Now if only someone out here in California could replicate it.

I thought I noticed an odd thing about black beans: acidic additions such as lime juice or vinegar will turn the beans a bit redder. No sour flavorings and they will tend to stay dark black. This intrigued me and one day I had a little red wine in the bottom of a glass and I added a pinch of baking soda (to neutralize the slight acidity in the wine) and watched as the red color of the wine turned dark, into the color of black beans.

Oddly enough, I knew about migas from some place other than Austin. The IHOP in Lubbock, TX serves migas, and a friend used to always order them for dinner/breakfast/midnight meal/whatever when we'd go there to study or hang out over some greasy diner food since it was one of the few places open at 2AM.

Migas are not a special dish of austin. They serve them everywhere in Houston, even diners (house of pies!). Sometimes they are called chilaquiles...which i know you'll say "that's not the same thing", but i had this issue with your migas post too.

I've recently noticed we don't seem to care too much about semantics in texas. Any place that's not a taqueria serves chilaquiles that are clearly not chilaquiles, they are migas. I would say 9 times out of 10 chilaquiles in texas are migas.

Made the black beans today for a gathering tomorrow. They are great. I tried to double the recipe. Got a bit spicy with the chipoltes. See how the group likes them tomorrow. Live in DC, but was in Austin last month about the time you were in Texas. Made the round from Dallas to San Anton to Austin to Roscoe (west of Abilene) and back to Dallas. 1,200 Texas miles. Too bad it rained so much. Good food but missed the real Austin scene.

As an Austinite for six years, I can't imagine what I would do if I moved away. Trudy's got me hooked on refried black beans, and now I always have a few bowls of black in the freezer for quick lunches.

There's a house concert going on in Hyde Park right now, it's so hilariously bad. I can hear it through my fireplace vent. What a place!

I'm staying in San Francisco for 4 months, but I live in Austin and am so so so very homesick for the food. I'll be home next weekend for a few days and am going out for breakfast tacos, queso and margaritas for almost every meal. I planned my eating schedule a month ago!

I thought for sure you've been clued in on the Curra's avocado margarita! It's hard to explain but it cannot be passed up. It's kind of like a lime, avocado, cilantro and tequila milkshake. Sounds weird, but you seriously have to force yourself to stop ordering them.

Just dropping by to say thanks SO SO much for your blog. I'm living outside of Texas for the first time ever (NYC, YIKES) and just reading about my beloved Austin makes me feel so much better. I have to say, you have it pegged pretty well...I would KILL for some Trudy's Migas and Black Beans right now...and a Mexican Martini along side wouldn't be too bad either. Thanks again from a fellow homesick Texan.

I love your blog! I too am a Homesick Texan and I've only been away from Dallas for six months.

Also good to see that there are others here in the DC area with the craving. Thank God I worked in a ton of Tex-Mex joint so I can satisfy that itch (with the help of a monthly care package assembled at HEB) anytime.

Wow. All this discussion about migas in Austin and no one has mentioned CISCO's on East 6th Street??? My memories of Austin always include breakfast at Cisco's next to frequent customers Walter Cronkite and Cactus Pryor....yummy memories!

Always, always wanted to go to Austin...this is making it worse. I'm wondering if you really get the same flavor using canola instead of lard. I guess I'll be forced to conduct an experiment, and plan a looooong walk after the lard trial.

I find that a few sprigs of fresh thyme really brighten up the flavor of black beans either with or without the epazote. Great post, now that SXSW is over I might have to run down to Austin from Wise county to get my migas fix.

Another starving DC area resident here. I won't get back to Texas until this summer. I'll be in San Marcos, so I know I'll go on an eating tour of Austin. We used to live in Belton and would drive to Austin just to eat. I'm going to go hug my black beans and cry now.

You guys in DC should be able to get decent Mexican groceries if you aren't averse to going into the Kensington area, near Takoma Park and a couple of other 'hoods in Prince Georges. Manassas is another good area in VA for tiendas. Look for a chain called Americana.

http://www.americanagrocery.com/

When I moved up to Richmond over 20 years ago, I had to go to DC & the 'burbs to find stuff to make decent comida. Now Richmond has decent tiendas..

And I keep wanting to go to a place called La Gringada on the Bawlmer/DC Turnpike just past Beltsville, but I'm usually trying to get to Bawlmer on time.

These look fabulous. I am bean obsessed and these are getting made pronto. Most "basic" bean recipes I have seen are too basic--I love beans, but to me they are a blank canvas that needs paint, they need flavor. The chipotle and lime juice esp look terrific. Thanks for sharing.

I second John on Curra's and the avocado margarita... they basically throw in a few avocado slices to the frozen margarita that gives it a nice mellow flavor that complements the tangy lime so well. I was really hesitant to try it, but the bartender told me if I didn't like it, he'd get me something else on the house...well, that is one bet I am glad I lost and you will too!

As a native Austinite (I remember trick or treating on Bergstrom Air Force Base, now the airport), I'm glad you wrote up something on our unique cuisine! Hooray for black beans! And I know your post was about black beans and everyone keeps posting on Mag mud, but don't forget the Kerbey Queso either!

Hi and hello to Lisa,Made a skillet of migas this morning for the first time at home.Thanks to your recipe for inspiration, I have a new bullet in my bandolero.Had not had them in a long time and gotta admit, brought back fond memories of my days in the Lone Star State.Best regards,Wes

I was born in Mexico City and Lived in Dallas for 25 years...married a German/Bavarian man...went on roadtrips with my hubby to Austin many many times...moved to bavaria...homesick for good tex-mex and auth. mexican...THANK YOU for feeding my soul de todo corazon! xoxo, Lis Halo von Deutschland!!!

OMG! This is the coolest site ever! A friend of mine just sent me the link and I am now truly homesick! I lived in Texas all my life until 11 years ago when I moved to Chicago! Lived in Austin for 12 years before I moved here. Another Homesick Texan named Lisa? What are the odds? The first article I saw was about black-eyed-peas for New Years! I made a crock pot full and man, were they yummy! Our recipies are almost identical; (I've never heard anyone else use Rotel! YUMMY!) Several years ago, I started adding "Li'l Smokies" sausages (cut into 3-4 pieces each). And I love to slow cook em for over 12 hours. I also make a killer Mexican Cornbread that goes with BEPs better than anything! I'll check back later and if I don't see the recipe on your site, I will share! Love your site! Can't wait to check back!

Yep, here in Austin, cooking and eating black beans today with the (small) extended family. I turned up your site a while back searching for black beans/epazote. Thanks for the recipe. Discovered chipotle in adobo recently and have been adding it to everything from eggs to my (Pace's) Chicken & Black Bean Enchilada recipe.2 true black bean stories: Raised on pintos, my first BB experience was Black Bean Nachos at Fonda San Miguel's. Wow! I've been trying to get them right ever since.Recently tried a BB side from the Galaxy Cafe - I believe they are perfect. Going back for more soon.I hope you'll try them both when you get to Austin. Happy New Year 2012. agv

Woo hoo! My fist time soaking and making black beans. (I live in Vermont, where Tex Mex is hard to come by.) I was blown away by this recipe! The adobo chilies, lime, and cilantro were just right on. I did use kombu instead of epazote, since I couldn't find it in the store.

I'm just making these for the second time - they've been a big hit in our house. Here in the England decent tex-mex is so difficult to get, especially outside the cities. I've had to be a little creative with some ingredients (I use a mixture of cayenne and smoked paprika instead of chipolte and oregano and bay instead of epazote - both of which I have found impossible to get) but we love it none the less